ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

This paper examines the evolving discourse and narrative representations of dementia in the context of Japan’s transition into a super-aged society. Focusing on the documentary film Bokemasu kara, Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (I Go Gaga, My Dear ), the study explores how dementia is portrayed and received in nonfiction genres. Alongside this film, the analysis incorporates Agawa Sawako’s The Power of Caring and Kanoko Hirofumi’s The Magazine Yoreyore and the People of Takuroujo Yoriai , highlighting how these texts reframe dementia not merely as a pathological condition but as a lived experience embedded in familial and social relationships. These narratives shift away from earlier depictions of dementia as a tragic and isolating decline, and instead foreground the ethics of care, emotional complexity, and the possibility of coexisting with dementia within everyday life. By contextualizing these narrative shifts within broader policy developments—such as Japan’s Orange Plan and the Community-Based Integrated Care System—the paper argues that literary and cinematic discourses have actively contributed to reshaping public perceptions of dementia. Ultimately, the study aims to draw meaningful implications for South Korea, a country undergoing a similarly rapid demographic transition, by reflecting on how storytelling can inform policy and cultural responses to aging and cognitive decline.

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